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Thursday, 18 October 2018

Staff wages are being delayed as financially troubled Pakistan International Airlines, the national carrier of Pakistan, struggles to survive amid mounting debts.

Local media is reporting that most staff had not been paid on time, forcing the airline to publicly confirm there had been delays in paying the October staff salaries because of financial constraints, but officials assured that most people had been paid by October 7th.

"It has been very distressing, if we had been told in advance our pay was going to be late, we could have made other arrangements and budgeted for it." Ashok, a PIA employee told us today.

The airline is said to be raking up losses in excess of PKR2 billion rupees, around $15 million every month following higher fuel prices, the weaker exchange rates of the rupee, which has drastically dropped in value in recent times. The carrier has also had to cope with increased competition, top-level management changes, corruption, excessive over staffing and maintenance issues - at least five aircraft are out of service at the moment. Another worrying sign came from the Pakistan Stock Exchange which put PIA on warning for not submitting its audit report and convening annual general meetings.

The future direction of the national carrier is uncertain, the government under the direction of new Prime Minister Mr Khan appointed an Air Vice Marshal from the Air Force, Arshad Malik, to the role of chairman to try and turn the company around. “The new chairman of the national carrier has been directed to “immediately fix the institution’s economic condition,” the information ministry said after the appointment had been made.

Chief Aviation Correspondent.
Jason has many years experience of the aviation and media industries. He has written numerous articles, reports and features for various publications and is the author of a number of both nonfiction and fiction books.

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Meet the team

Jason Shaw.

Jason Shaw's love of the aviation industry started at a young age when he used to watch the whirlybirds of Bristow Helicopters coming and going from the garden of his Surrey childhood home. Since those days he's worked in a number of key areas within the aviation industry from airlines, travel agents, holiday companies and product selection to reporting on it for local radio and making video travel brochures.

Jason is also an experienced broadcaster, having presented on radio, television, corporate videos and video travel brochures. He's an avid writer and written a number of books, articles, features and reports. He also loves to travel and his favourite destinations include Port Douglas, Singapore and Copenhagen.

Joshua Jordan.

Josh loves to travel and has a passionate interest in the airline industry. He's worked in both travel and the media for a number of years. His voice can often be heard on Internet-based radio stations as well and the odd commercial! The destination he calls his favourite is - New York.

Adam Shaw

Adam is the youngest member of the team, no relation to Jason and like the rest of the team, he has a keen interest in airlines, aircraft and aviation. His favourite destination is Prague and has just started taking flying lessons.